Watch DOGS program brings fathers, father figures into classrooms

Tuesday

Dec 17, 2013 at 9:00 AM

By Lisa.Ermak@hollandsentinel.com(616) 546-4219

Dan O’Connell considers a great dad someone who’s involved in his children’s lives, produces productive members of society, models strong faith and provides a shoulder to cry on in times of sadness or a high five in times of celebration.O’Connell lives out just about every one of those characteristics for his children and hundreds of others.When the dad of three isn’t working his 7-5 job as a launch manager at Johnson Controls, he’s volunteering as a "Watch DOG" at Eagle Crest Charter Academy.Every month, O’Connell comes to school to lend a hand. He wears his Watch DOGS T-shirt and helps direct traffic, monitors the halls, office and lunch room and works with small groups of students in the classrooms.The Watch DOGS (Dads of Great Students) program started at Eagle Crest in November. The initiative of the National Center for Fathering puts fathers and father figures in schools in order to provide positive male role models for students and to enhance school security.Eric Snow co-founded the program in 1998. He started Watch DOGS in his children’s school, not long after the school shooting in Jonesboro, Ark., which left five people dead. Nothing like that had happened in Arkansas before, Snow said, and the community wanted to do something positive in the schools and get fathers and father figures involved in the lives of students."There have been so many studies that demonstrate if a child has a positive adult role model in their lives, they’re twice as likely to graduate high school," Snow said. "A child that doesn’t is more likely to be involved in drugs and alcohol, and girls are seven times more likely to be involved in a teen pregnancy."But it’s not often that fathers are singled out and asked to volunteer in the classroom or chaperone a field trip.The Watch DOGS program makes sure the fathers and father figures are specifically asked to help and be a positive role model at their child’s school."It’s a shift in the paradigm," O’Connell said. "Women are usually the volunteers. It’s great to have the dads."O’Connell’s children think it’s great, too.Twelve-year-old Abigail, 10-year-old Morgan and 8-year-old Austin O’Connell describe their father as loving, cool and awesome.They love when he spends the day at their school.During the past 15 years, the Watch DOGS program has expanded into 46 states with 3,421 active programs. Along with Eagle Crest, West Ottawa’s Great Lakes Elementary launched the program this year as well.Snow said Watch DOGS come in all forms. They’ve been salesmen, police officers, firemen, doctors, lawyers, laborers, builders and plumbers.But most importantly, they’re loving, committed fathers like O’Connell."There’s no profile for a Watch DOG," Snow said. "A Watch DOG is a dad of a great student."— Follow this reporter on Twitter @SentinelLisa.